（外文电子版资料）Theodore Sturgeon - The Perfect Host.pdfVIP

file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Theodore%20Sturgeon%20-%20The%20Perfect%20Host.txt THE PERFECT HOST by Theodore Sturgeon _____________________________________________________________________ Copyright 漏 1948 by Weird Tales eBook scanned proofed by Binwiped 11-25-02 [v1.0] I As Told By RONNIE DANIELS I WAS FOURTEEN then. I was sitting in the car waiting for dad to come out of the hospital. Dad was in there seeing mother. It was the day after dad told me I had a little sister. It was July, warm, and I suppose about four in the afternoon. It was almost time for dad to come out. I half opened the car door and looked for him. Someone called, Mister! Mister! There was a red squirrel arcing across the thick green lawn, and a man with balloons far down the block. I looked at him. Nobody would call me mister. Nobody ever had, yet. I was too young. Mister! It was a womans voice, but rough; rough and nasty. It was strong, and horrible for the pleading in it. No strong thing should beg. The sun was warm and the red of the brick buildings was warm, too. The squirrel was not afraid. The grass was as green and smooth as a jelly bean. Mother was all right, dad said, and dad felt fine. We would go to the movies, dad and I, close together with a closeness that never happened when things were regular, meals at home, mother up making breakfast every morning, and all that. This week it would be raids on the icebox and staying up late sometimes, because dad forgot about bedtime and anyway wanted to talk. Mister! Her voice was like a dirty mark on a new collar. I looked up. She was hanging out of a window on the second floor of a near ell of the hospital. Her hair was dank and stringy, her eyes had mud in them, and her teeth were beautiful. She was naked, at least to the waist. She was saying Mister! and she was saying it to me. I was afraid, then. I got in the car and slammed the door.